


Humanity (No longer human)

by siren_of_the_ocean



Series: The doll [6]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Coraline (2009), Robin (Comics)
Genre: BAMF Coraline Jones, BAMF Tim Drake, Gen, Hurt Tim Drake, Introspection, Not sure how to tag this style, Tim Drake Needs a Hug, Tim Drake-centric, i guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-22
Updated: 2020-10-22
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:54:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27147638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/siren_of_the_ocean/pseuds/siren_of_the_ocean
Summary: Tim Drake was Robin. Was Happy.Was.The Other Mother took him. Not completely. But enough.One day, he wakes up as a cat, knows that another child might fall to Her, if he doesn't intervene.He may no longer be Robin. But he will never stop helping.
Relationships: Tim Drake & Coraline Jones
Series: The doll [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1878559
Comments: 10
Kudos: 121





	Humanity (No longer human)

**Author's Note:**

> I blame a single commenter for this. K commented on Sanity asking if Alfred the cat would play the cat from Coraline and it got me thinking. 
> 
> So. Enjoy.

Tim Drake was Robin. He was happy. Flying around the streets with the wind in his hair and a smile on his face.  
Was.  
It didn’t last long. 

It all started with a doll. Fabric and stuffing and big round button eyes.  
It vastly escalated from there. 

A doorway to another realm.  
Janet being Not Janet. Other Janet.  
Janet actually being around and being happy to see him. Cooking him meals and giving him attention. 

Tim was…happy here. Happy with her.  
He wanted to stay. He had to. 

Then Other Janet made an offer. He could stay. He could stay forever. And only for one thing in return.  
His eyes. 

Tim was…unsure about that. Not quite put off but not quite willing either.  
Other Janet took his indecision and ran with it.  
Forced him still and managed to sow one button over his eye before he fought his way out of her grip. 

It was too late though.  
One eye was enough.  
He’d be forever bound to this place.  
To her. 

He would never again be able to see his family. His friends. His real parents, as inattentive as they were.  
He would never again be Robin. 

No.  
Instead. He became something else.  
The bane of her existence. In whatever form he decided to take. 

His form shifted with each child’s visit. With each iteration of the world surrounding him.

Sometimes he was something resembling a human. Sometimes he was a dog. Once, he was even a giant caterpillar. 

This time though.  
This time, his form was small, furry. Frail.  
Four paws tipped with sharp claws. Ears that bend to catch sound. A steady rumble, either soothing or warning.  
A cat. 

It wasn’t long after his form had changed that she arrived. A girl this time. Blue hair with eyes the colour of honey. The colour of Bart’s. It made Tim’s chest ache in remembrance. He shoved it down with the ruthlessness of having executed that particular task a thousand times. 

Her parents were neglectful. That Tim could see easily. Not enough time. Never enough time. And if Tim were still capable of feeling pity for these children, if he hadn’t seen tens of them be sucked in by the illusion, he would reconcile her history with her own. But Tim had seen too many children ignore his warnings. Had seen children shake and cry and regret when the deed was done. When it was already far too late. 

He watched her nonetheless, using the boy, Wybie to keep an eye on her. He followed her on her trip to the old well, stared at her and almost felt pride when she threw a rock at him. Her aim was off by a few centimetres. Impressive. She has spunk, Tim thinks, remembering the girl from before. The girl who had punched him with a brick. But that was before. 

The girl’s name is Coraline, he finds. 

She has potential. He knows this. Knows that Other Mother knows it as well. Knows that she is hungry, forever consuming but never feeling fulfilled. 

The girl goes through the tunnel that night. Led by a rat. Tim doesn’t hesitate to follow, slinking through the gaps in worlds like cats are known for doing.  
He waits.  
He watches.  
He warns. 

This one seems a bit more logical than the rest. “I won’t let you sow buttons over my eyes!”. A smart child. Just like Tim had been.  
Manipulative “How about a game?”  
Strong willed “Go ahead. Open it”

Tim decided that he liked this child early. Showed her all he could. Gave her every warning he could think of.  
“I hate rats. But this one, was sounding an alarm”  
“She only built what she knew would impress you”  
“No. I’m not the other anything. I’m me!”  
“You’re falling into her trap”

Tim did what he could and yet she still went back. She made it out. She did what he couldn’t and yet She. Still. Went. Back. 

It made Tim’s blood boil. Made him feel things that he hadn’t felt in a long while. Stripped away the apathy and replaced it with concern and anger and worry. Things he thought long forgotten.  
It encouraged him to help her. 

He did more than he reasonably could this time. Bringing her the rat with the last eye. The last of the 3 eyes, to be precise. The Other Mother would never let him leave. And Coraline hadn’t known that she should be bargaining for more. Either way, it ended in the stop of a clock. 

The fight afterwards was all her. Tricking the Other Mother into opening the door, while still pocketing the snowball her fake parents were trapped in. A smart move.  
Throwing HIM at her though, Tim still resents.  
He sees the logic in it. He had taken out her sight, after all. Giving Coraline an edge that she had used to escape. And Tim had gotten out of it alive as well. So he couldn’t really critique her.  
Not when she did what he hadn’t managed to. 

And then that damned hand had shown up, clawing at her neck in the middle of the night. Desperate to get the key. Desperate to survive.  
She’d done the right thing to run. To throw it all down the well.  
The hand would not return. Not after that. 

And she’d told the Grandmother what happened, gave the story to a grieving sister who had never truly known. Never would have known if Coraline hadn’t survived. 

Yet, watching the family plant flowers in the garden, Tim can feel a disturbance. A feeling he had always attributed to the making of a doll. 

Slinking to the side, he slips behind the sign “Pink Palace” and disappears. Rejuvenated with hope to save as many of these children as he can. 

He may no longer be Robin. But that doesn’t mean he can’t help.


End file.
